Pachauri's resignation from PM's climate panel accepted
Agencies
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 28
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accepted resignation of noted environmentalist RK Pachauri, accused of sexual harassment, from PM's Council on Climate Change.
Pachauri is under investigation following allegations that he sexually harassed a colleague at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi. However, Pachauri has denied the allegations against him, but proceeded on leave from TERI, where he was director general.
A Padma Bhushan awardee, Pachauri, had on Tuesday stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also did not attend the key IPCC meeting in Nairobi that was organised from February 24 to 27.However, Pachauri, who has got anticipatory bail from a local court in Delhi, has been granted protection from arrest till March 27.
Women activists meanwhile questioned the TERI governing council for not initiating a "disciplinary" enquiry against him for acts of alleged misconduct and demanded that he must be "suspended pending the enquiry".
In a strongly-worded letter to a member of the governing council, lawyer Indira Jaisingh, activist Kavita Krishnan, former Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed along with others, have sought "suspension" of Pachauri from his position pending an internal enquiry by the presiding officer of the internal complaints committee of TERI.
Citing several texts, emails, and WhatsApp messages as evidence to prove the claim of sexual harassment, the complainant had accused Pachauri of harassing her soon after she joined TERI in September 2013.
